Weekly Tarot

November 21-27, 2022:
Knight of Pentacles

Know what you own, and know why you own it.
Peter Lynch

As we begin feeling the impact of the holiday shopping season, money and materialism are grabbing our attention.  So it is quite instructive to have a visit from our friend the Knight of Pentacles, especially on the heels of last week’s Seven of Pentacles.

The court cards of the Tarot are the people cards and are quite often, literally, the people you know. They may or may not be the same sex as the figure in the card, and quite frequently they may be some aspect of yourself. Therefore, to decide who this might be, here are some characteristics for you to consider.

The Knights of the Tarot are the champions, the energetic and often forceful movers and shakers of the Court.

However, the Pentacles are ruled by the element of Earth. So here is a Knight who is a sturdy, well-grounded person who is rarely in a big hurry. “Steady as she goes,” is his motto.

Thus he (or she) is methodical, calm, and even a bit conservative. Like a chess master, they study the board, and calculate multiple possible moves in the future before making a move. But move, they will.

Unlike the other, more dynamic Knights, the Knight of Pentacles sits quietly on his big workhorse, facing towards the fields that await planting. He holds before him the Pentacle that is his wealth and investment for the future. Like the younger, less experienced Page, the Knight’s coin is either transparent, or else the same sunny yellow as the sky.

His helmet and his horse are adorned with oak leaves, reinforcing their connection to the Earth, perhaps even the Green Man. Oaks, as you may know, are sacred trees that are revered as doorways to the Mysterious realms.

He is often body-conscious, too, and may be athletic in a robust, formidable way. These Knights can be crusaders on behalf of good health habits and wholesome nutrition.

Maybe Not the Life of the Party, But Everybody’s Rock

Unlike the other suits’ adventurers, this Knight is cautious, measured in his approach, and dogged in the pursuit of his goals. A hard-worker, he has tremendous stamina and dedication.

Every job is always completed down to the last detail. He never multitasks or leaves anything dangling unfinished. He’s careful and prudent, never wasteful.

However, he tends to be a bit stodgy and dull. He’s not known for his playful sense of humor, or brilliant repartee. He finds emotional drama puzzling and usually unpleasant, preferring down-to-earth plain talk and pragmatism.

Work always comes first for him, and he can be inflexible and obsessive about little details. He doesn’t much like change or risk and tends towards pessimism, in the name of being “realistic.” This attitude works well for him, however, since he is usually comfortably well off.

Calm Water Doesn’t Prove There Are No Crocodiles

This week, perhaps you are finding it necessary to proceed with care in some situation. With the New Moon in expansive Sagittarius, there can be a caution-to-the-wind impulse, but this Knight holds and examines his coin carefully.

As the always spot-on Elisabeth Grace notes:

The Sabian Symbol for the New Moon is “the ocean covered in whitecaps,” and we last worked with it on the Full Moon of May 2016. around the time of that year’s Democratic National Convention. Whitecaps on the ocean are caused by turbulence in the air, and it’s interesting to see this Symbol pop up when Jupiter is at the verrrrrrrrrry end of totally wet Pisces,  and Mars in airy Gemini squares all-wet Neptune, trining Saturn in Aquarius.

I did not know this, but “whitecap” is the name of “a former lawless, secret organization in America…[that] engaged in violent crimes against individuals deemed morally unacceptable,” reports Sabian Sage Blain Bovee.

Bovee notes also that whitecaps on the ocean are “froth” — i.e., perhaps foolish and trivial — and “only a surface manifestation hiding a much deeper, more powerful current.” We are advised to be mindful of what’s beneath the surface of everything, including anonymous generosity. Double hmm.

She also cautions:

Mars is right on the Ascendant [in the Washington, DC chart] painting a picture of fighting words and aggressive action. Mars rules the area of this chart that refers to administrative bodies, e.g., Congress. Mars is separating from Neptune — a.k.a. a delusional or dreamy fog.

Mars is trine to Saturn, which rules our fearless leader (Biden), foreign affairs and debt/taxes. I’ll take that as a positive sign for the party that controls the House until January 3rd.

So it’s imperative, as so many progressive leaders are urging, that the lame-duck House take steps immediately to protect the well-being of everyone who is … well, pretty much everyone but the privileged old white men in America.

And while things may appear peaceful on the surface, there may be some very intense churning just out of sight. When the Knight is finally ready to make his move, get ready; there’s no stopping him.

In addition, she observes:

The New Moon, Mercury and Venus are in the 6th house — labor, processing systems and health concerns. That’s where seeds may be planted. Moon in the 6th suggests these areas are the peoples’ focus.

The Knight of Pentacles is the ideal ally that can help you do just that.

The ever astute Lorna Bevan adds:

This fiery New Moon at 1° Sagittarius — the sign of the visionary, the centaur firing his arrow over the horizon – conjunct both Venus and Mercury and trine Shamans Neptune/Jupiter in Pisces, is a nudge to raise your eyes from the day to day and to reach out to your family, friends and tribes.

Jupiter – the exoteric ruler of Sagittarius – stations to turn direct the following day at 28° Pisces conjunct psychic Neptune, the last time that both rulers of Pisces will be in their own sign together in this lifetime.

It opens a window of possibility into a different, more hopeful future, one that is going to emerge from the shadows in March 2023 when Pluto and Saturn both change signs.

There could hardly be a better description of the Knight of Pentacles, for he is certainly a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of person. Yet here he is, following Lorna’s advice, pausing to assess his resources, and surely considering the bigger picture.

Use this New Moon to gauge your physical well-being, including your health and treasured possessions. What do you own, and why? What more do you need? What can you share?

With jovial Jupiter, planet of benevolent fortune stationing direct, it would be wise to have a plan underway for building stores of good for the dark time of the year ahead.

Finally, if this is not enough motivation for you to pause, evaluate, and plant New Moon seeds of intention for practical, material well-being, I urge you to watch my heart sister, Sally Nurney’s, Lunar Lowdown for this New Moon. There is cosmic and ancient ancestral guidance flowing in this week’s rare alignment with the Galactic Core, and she offers her deep knowing to interpret and share it with us.

Be Wise with Your Treasures

This week, our challenge may be to know when to overcome our natural conservatism and take a leap of faith, inviting some pizazz into the mix. And when to wait, calculating our next move.

With the extreme consumer culture’s holiday machinery now bearing down, we would be wise to follow the Knight of Pentacles’ example.

He encourages us to be more prudent, persistent, and to slow down and focus.

Do your homework on your purchases. Make a budget and stick to it before you saddle up and head for the malls or go cyber-shopping. And you might take better care of your greatest resources – your time and your health.

He also suggests we might be more mindful of where our shopping dollars are going, and whose pockets we are lining. The Knight reminds us that we vote with our wallets far more often than at the polling booth.

Giant corporate interests, especially those led by ultraconservative billionaires and lobbyists, are often at complete odds with the public’s needs for health care sanity, social justice, fiscal prudence, and Gaian-friendly practices. If you don’t like them, or the commercialism being blasted at you during this time of year, the Knight’s message is to cut them off at the paycheck.

Instead, consider buying locally-made and produced wares, as well as supporting your local independent businesses. Your patronage is critically important and makes your community stronger in so many ways.

This week, let us take a long, clear look at what is really of value, for seldom is that what is being hustled to us.

May the Knight of Pentacles offer you his blessings of abundance, patience, and care as we move into this sacred time of giving.